


There and back again

by oxymoron



Category: Le Superbe Orénoque | The Mighty Orinoco - Jules Verne
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-12-19
Updated: 2010-12-19
Packaged: 2017-10-13 19:16:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/140743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oxymoron/pseuds/oxymoron
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jeanne and Jacques revisit some previous stations of Jeanne's life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	There and back again

**Author's Note:**

  * For [coprime](https://archiveofourown.org/users/coprime/gifts).



**Havana**

Growing up, Juana Eredia is known for being one of the best-behaved little girls in all Havana. She never runs in the house or tears her good gowns, she is punctual and attentive in her studies and she never misses prayer. One would call her docile, except that no adjective seems to suit her less. She is far too strong-minded for that. Instead, the family takes to calling her virtuous. It is not a lie, but maybe principled would be a more apt descriptor, together with practical and earnest, even though those words are seldom used to describe girls in white dresses. When M. Eredia finally learns that she is a soldier’s daughter, he throws back his head and laughs: “Of course she is!”

Juana is also kind-hearted and quietly affectionate. She likes to read and listen to stories – the fairy tales and romances that Mme Eredia tells her at night, or the tales of adventures and travels M. Eredia shares with her. She never grows tired of hearing about her own rescue, and she never fails to cry for the parents she never knew. The Eredias, who are quick-tempered, cheerful, loud and uncomplicated people, don’t understand her at all. They love her greatly, and watch her leave for another continent in the hopes of finding another family at fifteen.

~*~

They meet Mme Jacques Helloch nine years later, accompanied by her husband and another Frenchman, a jovial fellow called Germain Paterne. It is a joyful reunion full of laughter and hugs and some tears.

That evening, after the young people have retired, Mme Eredia remarks to her husband: “I feel I hardly know her. She is so changed!”

“Changed, my dear! How could you say such a thing? I only saw our Juanita, a little taller and a little tanner, perhaps, but still the same girl at heart!”

“I did not mean her looks. She is so carefree. Did you hear her laugh? And could you imagine our Juanita, who never did anything that wasn’t proper, wearing a young boy’s clothes and living among Indians and wild beasts for months?”

“Now, that is where you are wrong, love. Juana never cared for what is proper, only what is right. Those two often overlap, but they are not the same, and in this case, finding her father seemed right to her, even if the means were not proper. I must say, I heartily agree with her!”

“Oh, so do I! It was a very clever thing to do! And it has done her good. I have never seen her so at ease. And she could not stop talking. She was always a good listener, but I’ve never heard her say so much. She only stops for M. Helloch! I say, she is changed, and not for the worse!”

Smiling, M. Eredia shakes his head. “It’s her situation that has changed, not herself. She was always searching for something, and now she has found it – and more. That Jacques Helloch is a fine fellow! He loves her just as much as she him, if not more, and he admires her a great deal. You can see it in the way he looks at her. She will have a good life.”

“Yes, that she will! I’m only sad we won’t see more of it!”

 

 

 **Nantes**

When Sergeant Martial finds the card of Mlle Jeanne de Kermor after coming home from an afternoon visit, he is very glad to be alone in the room, because he almost faints, and such things are embarrassing for a decorated soldier. When he meets her, she is a slight, little thing – not even of age yet – with the eyes and decided manner of his Colonel. He takes her in, or maybe she takes him in (he can never decide, it _is_ her house, after all, or should be) and they get on splendidly. After half a year, he admires her as much as her father, and loves her more than anything. She calls the country, city and house they inhabit together her home, and wants to learn all about them. Martial tells her story after story about his time with the Colonel. She hangs onto every word and it warms his heart until he has to remind himself that she does not listen because of him.

They keep to themselves. When Jeanne grows into a beautiful young woman, the sergeant is worried for her for a little while, but he realizes quickly that there is only one man on her mind.

Two months after they find the letter from San Fernando, Jeanne greets him in a loose-fitting jacket and billowy pants. He makes an honest effort to talk her out of it not because he thinks he will succeed, but because he thinks he should. He manages to convince her to several months of intense preparation, including physical training. She works harder than most of the soldiers he has commanded.

~*~

Jacques stands next to his wife at the rail when their steamer reaches the port of Nantes. Jeanne is smiling – in his memory, Jeanne has been smiling ever since she has dried the tears she shed when she took leave of her father, and he loves her for it – and admiring the view. “Isn’t it beautiful?” she exclaims, turning to him, her face flushed, and all he can say is “Yes, yes it is!” before he has to reach for her and press a kiss to her head. In the background, he hears Germain heave a tragic sigh, and it makes him laugh, which makes her laugh. They all laugh a great deal these days. Jacques thought he knew Jean, and maybe he did, but he has found out that his wife is, in many ways, very different from the earnest, singularly determined young man he met on the Orinoco. She is happier, he knows (not without pride).

The three immediately start settling their respective affairs. Jacques and Germain visit and – at the same time – take leave of their friends, family and acquaintances in and around Nantes. Jeanne, they discover quickly, knows hardly anyone. “How is it that such a charming young lady as you has so few acquaintances?” Jacques asks his wife, only half in jest. She blushes (he loves it when she does that). “Oh, I had Sergeant Martial, I really did not wish for much more acquaintances”, she says, and he hears “I had other things to do”. Sometimes, the ruthlessness with which she searched for an idol of whose existence she could not even be certain scares him. Free from her imagined responsibility, she sometimes seems younger than the seventeen-year-old boy she pretended to be.

Instead of taking leave of the people, Jeanne takes leave of the city of Nantes, her home of eight years. The newlyweds revisit the castle, the museums and churches; they stroll along the boulevards and spend a few leisurely afternoons in the countryside of Brittany that is so different from the jungles and savannas they are to return to. Germain Paterne gives them a splendid tour through the Jardin de Plantes. Jeanne is so fond of everything she sees that Jacques grows worried. One evening, when they are already lying in bed together and Jeanne is about to extinguish the candle, he stops her by pulling her close, her head on his shoulder.

“My dear…”

“Do you know, when you say that, I always expect it to be followed by Jean!”

He clears his throat and continuous in his deepest, most patronizing tone. “My dear Jean...”

Giggling, she hits him with a pillow. He quiets her by running his hands down her arms and nuzzling her hair.

“Jeanne, are you sure you don’t want to stay longer? You seem so happy here. Are you certain you are ready to leave Europe behind? This is your home.”

She is somber now. “I am sure. My place is with my father.”

He holds her closer. “Your place is where you are happy. You know your father would agree.”

“Trust me, Jacques!” She takes up his hand and kisses it. “I am not making a sacrifice. Yes, I love Nantes, but I learned to love it because it was my father’s home. And I did not know it then, but I grew to love it because I lived here with my dear Sergeant Martial. Do you know what I have learned on our trip? You can love more than one place and more than one person wholeheartedly. My home is where my father is, and where Martial is, and where you are.”

And then he has to extinguish the candle and kiss her in the dark.

 

 

 **The Orinoco**

Jacques Helloch reaches for the struggling silhouette in the water – and feels soft, round flesh under is hands where he expected muscle. In the strangely detached way the brain often reacts in a crisis, he does two things: connect what he feels with the name he heard, and think that this will be very embarrassing later. Not right now, though. Right now, he has to save a life.

Before the accident, Jacques admired Jean de Kermor. The lad is obviously on his first expedition, and the self-proclaimed uncle who accompanies him is devoted but ill-suited to the task. Everyone can see that Jean de Kermor has courage. Jacques, as an experienced traveler himself, can see that he is also is well-informed and prepared. And, given his new information, he can also readjust his estimation of the degree of determination with which Jean – Jeanne? – has approached her journey, and the lengths to which she will go.

Jacques is angry – unreasonably so, he knows. When he forces himself to see the situation objectively, he can acknowledge the wisdom of Jeanne’s secrecy. And yet, he feels betrayed.

After he spends a sleepless night pondering _why_ that is, he offers to accompany Jeanne. He also reveals what he knows. He does it to Martial’s face and not to Jeanne’s, and is more than a little ashamed.

For the next few weeks, he is constantly juggling between fierce urges of protectiveness, admiration, love, and utter bewilderment about this woman who has entered his world. It entertains Germain, at least.

~*~

In Caicara, Jacques goes to search for a falca that will take the trio upriver. When he returns to the rooming house he and Jeanne are staying in, she waits for him in her old jacket and pants.

“Do you think I should cut my hair again?”

Jacques Helloch is too surprised by this development to give a coherent answer. In the end, among many aborted sentences, there is a distinct “you mustn’t”.

“Mustn’t what? The hair or the clothes?”

“Both! Neither!”

“I thought you’d see it this way. Would it help things along if I said I want to?”

“But Jeanne, it’s unnecessary. I will take care of you! You must know that!”

She gets up and kisses him. He is about to draw back – she looks like Jean, whom he is not allowed to touch – but is able to stop himself and relax into the caress.

“I know that, and I can never thank you enough! But I don’t want to be a burden.”

“You are never a burden to me! You wore your right clothes on the way down, didn’t you?”

She laughs. It suddenly strikes him how much at ease she is in these clothes. He is not sure he likes the thought.

“Don’t pretend that I know nothing about the difference between traveling up- and downstream. Jacques, I want to reach Santa Juana as quickly as possible. These clothes are not a hardship for me – they’re quite comfortable in fact.”

“It does not seem proper.”

“I’ve always thought that sometimes, practicality is more important than propriety. Jacques, I am not saying you do not need to take care of me. We both know that is not true. But you don’t need to take unnecessary care.”

He sighs and embraces her. The jacket bulks under his arms.

“Will you wear your dresses on land? After all, your identity is no longer a secret to most of the settlers along the way. And I don't want to see one hair on your head harmed!”

She smiles and nods. Germain, who has occupied the doorway quite unnoticed for several minutes, claps and asks them to kiss and make up like good children. They do. Germain, after all, is a very wise man.

**Author's Note:**

> Firstly, a very happy Yuletide to you, coprime! Thank you for your fabulous prompts and Dear Yulegoat letter! I loved all of your prompts, and they inspired me to read this book (I was matched on The Mysterious Island) and watch a lot of Super Streetfighter IV vids on YouTube. I hope you like the result! (And forgive me for the clichéd title; I am useless with titles.)
> 
> Secondly, want to recommend the Wesleyan Early Classics of Science Fiction edition of this book to everybody who doesn't own a copy. It is a beautifully edited translation that features an introduction, a Jules Verne biography, and an abundance of notes, which have been of great help for me in writing this fic. (I think it's also the only English translation available, so that might help with the choice.)


End file.
